My Assessment Philosophy

My Assessment Philosophy

Belief # 1 : Know your learners

I believe that it is crucial to build meaningful relationships with our students to understand their strengths and opportunities in the classroom. It is important to know their academic levels when planning and assessing student work. I feel that if you do not take time to know your learners and understand their needs, emotions and talents that you will not be setting students up for success in the classroom.

Belief # 2: Conversations

One way I am to know my learners is by having conversations with them. As mentioned by Anne Davies, when we leave with conversations with students about learning, ” we are inviting them to think about their learning. As they think and explain, we can gather evidence about what they know and understand. We can find out about what they did or created – such as their best efforts, what was difficult or easy, what the might do differently next time, and what risks they take as learners”.

I believe that hold conversations with students about their learning will allow me to assess and navigate my next teaching steps. Having conversations with my students will allow me to re-evaluate how I teach, assess and interact with my students.

Belief # 3: Include students in assessment

I believe that giving students a voice in how they feel they should be assessed will create a positive learning environment for all. By including students in their assessment process, I will be working to ” reinforce their grasp of the course content and strengthen their own skills at self-assessment” ( Angelo&Cross).

I find it important for students to understand their learning destination and to collaborate together with peers and teachers to come up with criteria on how they feel they should be assessed.

Belief # 4: Using technology for assessment

It is a goal of mine to use many forms of technology for assessment to document my students’ goals, learning, questions, and assessments. In particular, I will use an online portfolio to showcase my students work. I believe there are many benefits to using an online portfolio.

Giving students independence and pride: When students have opportunities to showcase their learning it will give them a sense of pride and confidence in their schoolwork.

Report card Documentation: Using online portfolios such as Seesaw or Flipgrid will be one of the main ways I keep documentation of my students and what I will refer to when entering marks for report cards.

Parent involvement: Often times when schoolwork is sent home, parents may not completely understand it. Using online portfolios gives parents the opportunity to be engaged in our classroom.They will be able to see what their child is doing in the classroom on a day-to-day bases and see explanations of student work in the form of pictures, videos, drawings, etc.